TENNIS: PACIFIC LIFE OPEN: BLAKE TAKEN TO LIMIT T.O.'S QUERREY WINS SET VS. NO. 12 SEED.Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services INDIAN WELLS Indian Wells may refer to:
Many tennis experts have touted Querrey as America's next great talent, including Davis Cup Captain Patrick McEnroe. to move into the third round of the Pacific Life Open on Saturday. The match was delayed by rain for more than an hour before Blake won 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 over the 18-year-old Querrey, a wild-card entry into the $3.2 million men's portion of the 12-day tournament. Blake, 26, the tournament's 12th seed, is coming off a championship at Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. a week ago that boosted him to a career-high No. 14 in the ATP ATP: see adenosine triphosphate. ATP in full adenosine triphosphate Organic compound, substrate in many enzyme-catalyzed reactions (see catalysis) in the cells of animals, plants, and microorganisms. Tour rankings. Querrey, by contrast, is ranked 443rd and still playing as an amateur. ``I'm pretty happy,'' said Querrey, who competed against a top-100 opponent for the second time in less than a month, after losing 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 to 82nd-ranked Vincent Spadea on Feb. 13 in the opening round of the SAP Open The SAP Open is a tennis tournament held each year in San Jose, California. It is the second oldest tennis tournament in the United States. It is part of the ATP International Series Tournaments. It is played indoors on a hard surface at the HP Pavilion at San Jose. in San Jose San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. . ``Going three sets against a player like Blake was great and playing on the stadium court was fun. He was really nice. Hopefully I get a chance to play him again.'' Blake said he was impressed by his younger opponent, who is headed for USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. on scholarship in the fall. ``He was serving big,'' Blake said. ``I don't think he missed many forehands and his backhand was more solid than I'd expected after practicing with him a lot in December. He played a great set.'' After suffering first-round losses as a wild-card entry in his past two ATP events, Querrey defeated 114th-ranked Bobby Reynolds 6-3, 7-5 in Friday's opening round. Following his victory in the opening set Saturday, a brief rain delay allowed Blake to regroup re·group v. re·grouped, re·group·ing, re·groups v.tr. To arrange in a new grouping. v.intr. 1. To come back together in a tactical formation, as after a dispersal in a retreat. , leading to a 5-0 lead in the second. ``I was really confident with my game (in the first set), then reality kicked in,'' said Querrey, who lost 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 to 157th-ranked Brian Vahaly in the opening round of last week's event in Las Vegas. ``He ripped some returns by me that seemed like 200 mph. I couldn't stop him in the second set, he was just playing too well.'' Following a 20-minute rain delay, Blake built a 5-1 lead in the third, before Querrey held, then broke to close to 5-3. Querrey pushed the ninth game to deuce, before Blake closed it out to secure a third-round matchup with Spain's Tommy Robredo or Sweden's Kenneth Carlsen. ``I think he was definitely getting a little nervous at 5-3,'' Querrey said. ``I couldn't do anything different in the second set, but in the third I just wanted to start off fresh and fight him all the way to the end.'' Chris Querrey saw her son's career come full circle Saturday, as the family had attended the event at Indian Wells for several years as Sam was climbing his way up the youth ranks. ``He was elated at the whole thing,'' Chris Querrey said. ``It was such a privilege for him to play Blake.'' Elena Dementieva of Russia and Flavia Pennetta of Italy, the Nos. 4 and 6 seeds in the $2.1 million women's event, both moved into the third round. Play had been suspended by rain through most of Saturday. Officials were going to postpone many of the matches until Sunday but reversed course and attempted to squeeze in some Saturday night. - Erik Boal contributed CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Thousand Oaks High senior Sam Querrey returns a shot Saturday against James Blake. Donald Miralle/Getty Images |
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